Suggested Books

PARTNERS

Bust of Contention: Controversy erupts as the Younger Lady is dubbed Nefertiti—Part I

Few ancient Egyptian royals are capable of garnering as much attention, generating frenzy, and stoking controversy globally as the legendary beauty Queen Nefertiti can. Despite having been a powerful woman who is believed to have co-ruled with her husband, Akhenaten, before donning the role of Pharaoh after his death, she remains enigmatic. This iconic Amarna personage is instantly recognizable thanks to a magnificent bust of her that survived the ravages of time. The recent reconstruction of Nefertiti’s face, based on the theory that the mysterious female mummy, called the Younger Lady, discovered in the tomb of King Amenhotep II is none other than the queen herself, has the world divided over the manner, form and color in which she is depicted. Using state-of-the-art technology, a team of scientists at the University of Bristol in England partnered with well-known French sculptress, Élisabeth Daynès to produce a bust that has created quite a stir.

From Beneath the Sands

Thutmose, ‘The King’s Favorite and Master of Works’, was the official court sculptor during the latter part of King Akhenaten’s reign in the ancient capital, Akhetaten, that the monarch had established to glorify the sun god, the Aten. The artist’s incredible body of work that surfaced during excavations at the site in modern-day Tell el-Amarna is one of our finest insights into that obscure period. French Egyptologist, Alain Zivie, rightly honors Thutmose as “the Michelangelo of ancient Egypt.” The royal sculptor’s atelier, which was abandoned when the court relocated to Thebes, yielded a wealth of statuary in various stages of completion. Many official portraits and 22 plaster casts were unearthed at this spot; these have been identified as various members of the royal family and unknown individuals, presumably contemporary residents of Amarna. But among all this art, one in particular stands out for its superlative execution – Thutmose’s pièce de résistance – the alluring bust of the Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti.

Detail of what is undoubtedly the world’s most famous painted stucco-coated limestone bust. Queen Nefertiti, the ‘Great Royal Wife’ of Akhenaten was one of the most powerful women of her time. Evidence suggests she co-ruled with her husband, and later independently, upon his death. Egyptian Museum, Berlin. (Photo: Artistically/Public Domain)

Discovered on December 6, 1912 by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (German Oriental Society) roughly 3,300 years after it was created, this life-size polychrome masterpiece measuring 48 centimeters and weighing 44 pounds (20kg) fascinated Ludwig Borchardt, the leader of the mission, who found the glorious object tremendously fascinating. “Suddenly we had the most alive Egyptian artwork in our hands,” he wrote in his diary, “Description is useless, see for yourself.” The German archeologist added that the sculpture was, “The epitome of tranquility and harmony.” There was never a truer word said, for, the face of Nefertiti has in time become a symbol of eternal beauty, power, dignity, and grace. The precise function of the one-eyed bust remains unknown, though it is theorized that it could have been a sculptor’s model.

This controversial, unfinished stela dedicated by Pasi/Pay shows two Amarna kings in an affectionate pose beneath the rays of the Aten—long thought to depict Akhenaten and Nefertiti in her “quasi-kingly” status, wearing the double crown of Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin.

Only a few details about the Amarna interlude, when Akhenaten declared the Aten as the supreme deity, can be positively ascertained. Lacking definitive proof, Egyptologists have thus far been unable to arrive at a consensus on many aspects of life in Akhetaten. Even the identities of some royals and their relationship to family members poses many a conundrum. Tossed into this baffling milieu is Nefertiti — a woman of uncertain origin whose name means “the beautiful one has come.” She bore Akhenaten six daughters and essayed a powerful role on the politico-religious stage.

The fact that extant evidence suggests she wielded unprecedented influence in court has perplexed scholars for long; because even her illustrious mother-in-law Queen Tiye, the Great Royal Wife of the “Magnificent” Amenhotep III, did not exercise such an enormous degree of power. But Nefertiti disappeared from the scene almost as soon as Akhenaten died in Regnal Year 17 and shortly before the child-ruler, Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamun), became king. What happened to her and how did she meet her end? Did she die as Pharaoh or a mere queen? These are but some of the questions about Nefertiti that have dogged Egyptologists’ for over a century.

Stunning Cache of Kings

French Egyptologist Victor Loret made an astounding discovery in the Valley of the Kings on March 9, 1898 when he stumbled upon the tomb of the Eighteenth Dynasty king, Amenhotep II (KV35). It was not the endless riches of this pharaoh that caught the world’s imagination, but, something even more priceless. For, tucked away in the dark recesses of the upper and lower pillared sections of this sepulcher was an unimaginable assemblage of royal mummies that rivaled those of pharaohs and priests from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-first Dynasties found by Emil Brugsch in the Deir el-Bahri (DB320) cache in 1881, the date of its official discovery. So, this bonanza of monarchs, hitherto missing from the DB320 list, and indeed history itself, was now accounted for.

Amenhotep II was the first pharaoh to be found resting in his own sarcophagus, made of red quartzite in the burial chamber of his tomb (KV35) in the Valley of the Kings.

KV35, the large tomb, boasted complex architecture and was the first in the Valley to be found containing an intact pharaonic mummy within the sarcophagus in the burial chamber—well before Tutankhamun. When Loret entered the side room on the right (Chamber Jc), the sight that met his eyes stirred him; for, there lay the mortal remains of three individuals beside each other, with their feet pointing towards the door. Upon closer inspection of the cadavers, the Frenchman noted that the first body seemed to belong to an Amarna era woman whose forehead and left eye were covered with a thick veil. The broken arm of this lady was found placed beside her. As we have now learned, this was the body of Queen Tiye (Elder Lady).

Chamber Jc in KV35, which is walled up today, contains two Amarna period mummies, and an unknown corpse of a boy from the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Another corpse was found placed near the wall, and Loret assumed this to be a shaven-headed male, next to whom lay a wig. “The face of this person displayed something horrible and something droll at the same time. The mouth was running obliquely from one side nearly to the middle of the cheek, bit a pad of linen whose two ends hung from a corner of the lips. The half-closed eyes had a strange expression, he could have died choking on a gag but he looked like a young playful cat with a piece of cloth. Death which had respected the severe beauty of the woman… turned in derision and amused itself with the countenance of the man,” the archeologist recorded. We now know that this is the body of an Amarna lady (Younger Lady). But, with no clarity on her identity, various candidates have been proposed – from Sitamun to Nefertiti. Ensconced between these two mummies was the body of a young child, who Loret assumed was Prince Webensenu, the son of Amenhotep II.

The mummy of the Elder Lady (Queen Tiye) and Younger Lady (identified as Tutankhamun’s mother) flank that of the Unidentified Boy found in Chamber Jc in KV35. Is the YL Nefertiti? (Public Domain)

Almost the entire left side of the face and chest of the Younger Lady were brutally hacked in antiquity – whether this desecration occurred post or ante mortem remains unresolved. It is hard to determine the identities of several royal dead from the late Eighteenth Dynasty – be they male or female. What we do know is the name of a few prominent adult women who are attested in records: Queen Tiye, Sitamun, Nefertiti, Kiya, Meritaten and Ankhesenamun. In a harem of hundreds of women; and in a royal family with dozens of princesses - both local and foreign - all we have are six names. Whatever scant evidence we have managed to gather in modern times about these royals has come in the form of DNA tests; and these results have raised more questions than have provided answers.

Top Image: Limestone trial piece showing the head of Nefertiti; and detail of the mummy of the Younger Lady; design by Anand Balaji (Photo credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin and G. Elliot Smith); Deriv.

Anand

Anand Balaji is an independent researcher based in Bangalore, India. A former journalist, he contributed as a staff reporter/sub editor during his stint in the field, and earned numerous bylines covering disparate topics in newspapers and magazines. He has also... Read More

Egyptological scholars are divided over whether a right-hand turn to the burial chamber in an Eighteenth Dynasty tomb signifies that it belonged to a female pharaoh. With this feature present in the...

The recent attempt at reconstructing the face of the iconic beauty, Nefertiti, by basing her looks on the mummy of the Younger Lady found in KV35 has caused an enormous uproar among Egyptophiles all...

Webinars

Viral Articles

Was there ever a Trojan War? That is, the almost legendary battle fought between Greeks and Trojans. This question continues to go unanswered by the academic and archaeological world. If we read from...

ccording to the statistics provided by the World Economic Forum, nowadays China can boast its position of the world’s second largest spender on scientific research and development, yielding only to the United States.

Many children have been warned to be careful around their grandmother’s fine porcelain plates. Those kids may grow up thinking that porcelain is a fragile material which has to be handled with care (or better yet, left alone). It may amaze them to picture a huge tower constructed of that material.

Top New Stories

310 years ago, a 62-gun Spanish galleon, the San José, was sunk by the British Navy in the Caribbean Sea during the War of Spanish Succession. With a heavy cargo of gold, silver and emeralds historians have estimated her treasure to be worth 17 billion dollars.

Myths & Legends

Was there ever a Trojan War? That is, the almost legendary battle fought between Greeks and Trojans. This question continues to go unanswered by the academic and archaeological world. If we read from...

Human Origins

A new analysis of two 7.2 million-year-old fossils belonging to a hominin species nicknamed “El Graeco” from Mediterranean Europe, suggests that mankind emerged in Europe and not in Africa. The new study could reshape history, since it openly challenges the “out of Africa theory.”

Ancient Technology

ccording to the statistics provided by the World Economic Forum, nowadays China can boast its position of the world’s second largest spender on scientific research and development, yielding only to the United States.

Ancient Places

Many children have been warned to be careful around their grandmother’s fine porcelain plates. Those kids may grow up thinking that porcelain is a fragile material which has to be handled with care (or better yet, left alone). It may amaze them to picture a huge tower constructed of that material.

Opinion

After the Blessed Virgin Mary and her assorted shrines and grottoes, evangelical Catholics in Canada and United States flock to and draw inspiration from the North American Martyrs’ Shrines in Midland, Ontario and Auriesville, New York; where collectively six clerics and two `donne’ or lay people were killed, supposedly `in odium fidei’ (in hatred of the faith).

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.